Sevenoaks Town Council approves funds for important eco-friendly features at new Greatness Pavilion

Published: 15 September 2025

Sevenoaks Town Council and Sevenoaks Town Football Club have been working in partnership to deliver an exciting new community and football pavilion at Greatness Recreation Ground. After receiving a major funding boost a few months ago, plans were able to progress. Now, after further funding has been approved by the Town Council, the pavilion will include important environmentally friendly features.

The process of obtaining the funding required to start this pavilion project has been lengthy, and during that time the costs have increased, not least by inflation.

Earlier this year, the Premier League, The FA and Government’s Football Foundation approved much-needed grant funding. Both Sevenoaks Town Council and Sevenoaks Town Football Club were keen to progress the project with the available funds and within funding timescales. Therefore, some eco-friendly elements had to be omitted.

Sevenoaks Town Council strongly supports the environmental aspects of this project, which are in line with the Council’s commitment to sustainability, climate responsibility and Green Community Investment Plan. As such, this week, Councillors approved the allocation of £133,600 from Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) funds from developer contributions towards the project to reinstate the originally identified eco-friendly features. This will ensure the pavilion delivers on both its community and environmental objectives.

This additional funding will enable the following features to be included:

Air Source Heat Pump – £60,000
Living Green Wall – £51,600
Photovoltaic (solar) system – £22,000

These measures will significantly improve the environmental performance of the pavilion, reducing its long-term carbon footprint, improving energy efficiency, and creating wider community benefits through sustainability leadership.

Cllr Claire Shea, Leader of Sevenoaks Town Council, commented, ‘We are pleased to be able to invest CIL funds in the prominent, flagship football pavilion for Sevenoaks. We want the building to be set up for success and lead the way on sustainable design.’

Offset Architects image of planned Football pavilion Image from Offset Architects